Death Cab for Cutie started as a solo project of Ben Gibbard in 1997 that expanded into a full band. They gained success with early albums on smaller labels before signing to Atlantic Records in 2004. Their album Plans in 2005 was platinum-selling and gained them more mainstream recognition. They have since continued recording and touring consistently while maintaining their indie aesthetic.

1. Death Cab for Cutie
Case study by Maddie H

2. History
Ben Gibbard (Lead singer) started recording a solo album in 1997, with Chris Walla’s
(producers) help. This lead to You Can Play These Songs with Chords. Locally the album
was successful, and recruited Nick Harmer (bassist) and Nathan Good (drummer) to form
a band. The band was named Death Cab For Cutie after the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band’s
song. They then next also signed a contract with Seattle’s Barsuk Records within a year’s
time.
As a four, their first album was Something about Airplanes in 1998.
Gibbard and Walla still produced their own personal projects, with Gibbard’s the
postal service, but soon returned as Death Cab for cutie to produce We Have
the Facts and We’re Voting Yes (2000).

3. Nathan Good then left the band just before it’s completion - with this, We Have the
Facts introduced Michael Schorr as the new drummer for the album. The Forbidden Love
EP was also released that year, and the following year followed The Photo Album (2001).
Around this time, Death Cab started to gain a real audience, and You Can Play These
Songs With Chords was re-released with ten additional songs.
Transatlanticism (2003) brought along a new drummer, Jason McGerr. The album was
wildly popular amongst the fans and proved to be a step on the right direction. The band
then released a live disc, The John Bryd EP, and then later signed a deal with Atlantic
Records in November 2004. Plans was released in the summer of 2005, and
gained a platinum status with three singles, most notably being I Will
Follow You into the Dark. This landed them with a grammy nomination, and an
appearance on Saturday Night Live. The band returned again with the release
of Narrow Stairs in 2008, which made it to the BIllbord 200.

4. After a short hiatus, Death Cab released Codes and Keys in 2011, with the single You Are
A Tourist performing well on Rock and Alternative charts alike, peaking at number three
on the US charts. 2012 involves many tours, and in October 2013 it was announced that
they were working on another studio album. This album was Kintsugi (2015), in which
was Chris Walla’s final album. This album was also produced by an outside producer,
Rich Costey.

5. Website

6. Background - album
cover. Relates to new
album
‘Out Now’ - use of
adverb encourages
people to go out and
buy
Tabs - easy to
navigate
Simplistic design w/ simple colour
scheme - keeps bands aesthetics true
Wide use of social media and
online places to buy - relates to
younger audience
Newsletter - allows
people to gain an insight
into their lives

7. Rest of website
The rest of the website seems
to have a similar colour
scheme to Kintsugi, which is
their most recent album. It
also follows a very simplistic
theme of bold text, boxed off
tabs and black/white contrast.
Less important text/smaller
details seem to be written in
gold. Any pictures/freeze
frames from music videos are
aesthetically pleasing, and
match the tone of the website.

8. Album artwork
The album Kintsugi was released in 2015, and Kintsugi is
a Japanese word for the art of repairing broken pottery.
The album artwork is very jagged, perhaps telling us that
they are broken shards, which would reflect what the
Japanese word means. There is also texture in the
artwork, suggesting that it is made out of pottery.
Relating a meaning to the artwork would be very typical
of Death Cab For Cutie, as their songs contain a lot of
meaning.

9. Tour Poster
This poster from 2004 promotes their tour.
From this poster I can tell that Death Cab
have always used the minimalist style,
showing they stay very true to their brand.
The simple colour scheme and lack of
information may only grab those who are
already interested in Death Cab as they will
be the ones that wish to find out more.
However, the poster is still very pleasing to
look at and the soft gentle colour scheme
reflects their soft indie style music. This
could have also been a teaser for their
upcoming album plans in 2005, which
features the similar sort of design, with
leaves prominent and them falling,
suggesting autumn.

10. Music video analysis
Throughout the video, there is a shaky handheld feel. This
contributes to the genre of the music being indie and alternative;
as these aren’t very popular genres, they may have lower budgets.
Whilst Death Cab has done well, they may still want to be seen as
underground as part of their brand.
There is a lot of focus on Ben, the lead singer, lip syncing to the
song. This lets people know of Ben’s role within the band, and
provides some link to the lyrics and the video. Also, as the whole
band is in the video, we know that they are being promoted as a
brand.
The black and white editing of the music video relates to the
melancholy feel to the video and lyrics, as it can be suggested Ben
is going through something. This is also typical of the
indie/alternative genre to have quite sad music in tone.
There is also a drone shot of Hollywood early in the video,
perhaps suggesting that they are a well known band as they’ve
made it to Hollywood, where people know it to be where ‘stars

11. Goodwin theory - how does it apply to my music video?
The music video relates to the Goodwin theory in terms of the branding element and
relevance between lyrics and the video. Having the whole band and Ben being the most
prominent in the video promotes Death Cab as an entire brand. Also, with Ben lip syncing
it promotes relevance to the lyrics and the video.
However, Death Cab’s video strays away from Goodwin’s theory as they (as a band) are
not performing on stage. Within the narrative, they’re involved within a
bus tour and there seems to be no relevance to them being a band apart
from one shots focusing on them, and in some shots the field of focus on
Ben is very apparent.

12. Conclusion
Death Cab is an indie band that is still heavily promoted by the mass music industry.
Whilst they’ve been promoting their minimalist, melancholic for many years, they wish to
keep their overall look of being very underground and unknown.
There are still elements that are somewhat disguised to make them promotable. For
example, their store on their website still promotes them as a band, and doing tours at
many festivals making people aware of them. Also, spreading awareness of
themselves through online sales introduces their music to a younger
audience, making it accessible for all and inevitably earning more money.